Various neurotrophins characterized by Neuronal Growth Factor (NGF), brain derived growth factor (BDNF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3), and others (NT-4, CNTF, GDNF, IGF-1), have been identified as key survival factors for neurons. NGF plays a critical role in the development and maintenance of cholinergic forebrain neurons of the CNS and neurons of the peripheral nervous system (PNS); neurons of the PNS are characterized as small fiber sensory neurons associated with pain and temperature sensation, in addition to neurons of the sympathetic ganglia and dorsal root ganglia (SCGs and DRGs, respectively). BDNF plays a role in motor neuron survival. Both BDNF and NT-3 are expressed in the CNS and serve similar purposes in multiple subsets of cortical and hyppocampal neurons; neurons of the CNS are characterized by those found in the brain, spinal chord, and eye. The removal of these, and related trophic factors from in vitro cellular media results in the degradation of the axonal processes, leading to apoptosis of cultured neurons.
Localized tissue loss of NGF, or reduced axonal retrograde transport of NGF to the cell body, have been causally implicated in the development of peripheral neuropathies and neuropathic pain regularly observed in diabetes and HIV patients. Several double blind Phase II clinical trials have found that the systemic administration of recombinant human NGF (rhNGF) (U.S. Pat. No. 5,604,202) displayed beneficial effects on neuropathic pain, physiology, and cognition related to these diseases (Apfel, S. C. et. al. JAMA, 248(17), 2215–2221; Apfel, S. C. Neurology 51, 695–702, 1998; McAurthur, J. C. et al. Neurology 54, 1080–1088, 2000). Side effects related to rhNGF treatment included injection site pain, hyperalgesia, and other pain related symptoms. Despite these symptoms, a large number of patients continued rhNGF treatment after unblinding.
Various chemotherapeutic drugs such as Taxol™, cisplatin, vinblastine, and vincristine, cause dose dependent peripheral neuropathies, characterized by peripheral pain and loss of function. In many cases these neuropathies effectively limit the amount, and duration, of chemotherapy given to, patients. For example, upwards of 50% of patients receiving Taxol™ chemotherapy experience severe, and cumulative, peripheral neuropathies. The progression of the neuropathy necessitates the use of a dosing regime which is characterized by three cycles of fourteen days of Taxol™ treatment, followed by 14 days of recovery. Regression of the neuropathy is often observed between treatment cycles and following the final treatment. The degree and duration of recovery varies largely between patients. In addition to peripheral neuropathies, cisplatin treatment invariably results in some form of auditory loss, especially in children, due to neuronal damage in the inner ear, with minimal recovery of the neurons after completion of treatment.